Populous To Design Exhibition Hall Tied To L.A. Convention Center

AEG and L.A. city officials announced this afternoon that Populous has been selected as the architect of record to design a new exhibition hall at the L.A. Convention Center. The project is tied to Farmers Field, the NFL stadium AEG wants to privately build next to the convention center. Separately, Populous senior principal Dan Meis is part of the design team for an NFL facility proposed for Majestic Realty in Grand Crossing, 20 miles east of downtown L.A. Majestic Realty VP John Semcken did not return a phone call and an e-mail to confirm whether Populous’ deal with AEG posed a conflict of interest with Majestic’s project. Meis, contacted in Italy, said he could not comment until he had more information on the convention center deal. Populous Brand Manager Gina Stingley said, "We’re not currently performing work for a competing NFL stadium in Los Angeles, and we will not do so while we’re working on the Los Angeles Convention Center project.”

In downtown L.A., Populous will design a new hall that would relocate and replace an existing 210,000-square-foot building torn down to make room for Farmers Field. The firm has already started work for a project expected to break ground in early summer '12. Gensler is AEG’s designer for Farmers Field.